It’s hard not to be happy for Bryce Dallas Howard, who is
nominated for a 2017 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in
a Miniseries or Television Movie for her work on Netflix’s Black Mirror. Her standout performance in the episode, “Nosedive,”
comes a year after the success of Jurassic
World, which earned her a 2016 Critics’ Choice Award nomination for Best
Actress in an Action Movie, and critical acclaim for the live adaptation of Pete’s Dragon.

“It is very special,” Howard tells ET, reflecting on the
year.

“Jurassic was the
first film I did after having my second child,” she adds, referring to her daughter, who was born Jan. 19, 2012. “It’s exciting for me to get to be a working actor
and to get to work on a few different projects that are coming out in a given
year.”

Having just given birth just ten days before the 2012 SAG
Awards, when The Help won for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Howard was
unable to attend the ceremony with her co-stars. But now that she, Octavia
Spencer, Emma Stone and Viola Davis are all nominated this year, she’s looking
forward to a do-over.

“I sent a picture to the ladies as it was happening of me
pumping at home,” Howard recalls to ET. “I was like, ‘Oh, I wish I could be
there with you guys.’ So, the fact that everyone is going to be there is going
to be so fun! I get a second chance at it.”

Howard says that the reason why “Nosedive” -- about a society obsessed with rating technology -- resonated with audiences is because society’s at a turning point. “In terms of our relationship to
technology and how it affects our lives on a day-to-day basis,” she says. “Black Mirror in a way -- especially ‘Nosedive’ -- is a social satire.”

“Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones really have captured the
anxiety we’re all feeling,” she says of the Black
Mirror creators.

Netflix

While there’s been tons of attention surrounding Black Mirror, and Howard’s episode in particular, the actress was completely taken by surprise by the nomination. “With these kinds of things, you never know, which is why I put it out of my head entirely,” she admits, while adding that it coming from the Screen Actors Guild feels particularly special: “Maybe this is a little corny, but I’m a third-generation actor. So, it’s awesome be recognized in that way.”

Certainly elated by the award attention, Howard says that
when it comes down to it, she’s just happy to work. “I feel acknowledged as an
actor if I get the opportunity to work, or if I get invited to callbacks, or if
I’m getting invited to be in the room,” she says. “To me, honestly, that’s the
satisfaction that I crave.”